BJP’s Parag Shah, Prashant Thakur and Mangal Prabhat Lodha, all of whom won, were the richest candidates in the recently-concluded Maharashtra assembly elections, a poll rights body said.

Shah, Thakur and Lodha won from Ghatkopar East, Panvel and Malabar Hill constituencies, respectively.

As per their affidavits, Shah is worth Rs 3383 crore, Thakur Rs 475 crore and Lodha Rs 447 crore, the Association for Democratic Reforms (ADR) said.

The average assets of candidates in the 2024 Maharashtra assembly polls stood at Rs 9.11 crore, up from Rs 4.21 crore in the 2019 edition, the ADR report said.

Of the 2201 candidates whose election affidavits were analysed, 829, or 38 per cent, were crorepatis (having assets worth more than Rs 10 million). In 2019, the affidavits of 3112 candidates were analysed, and 1007, or 32 per cent, were crorepatis, it said.

It said 144 of 149 BJP candidates (97 per cent) declared assets of more than Rs 1 crore, while the figure was 94 out of 101 for the Congress (93 per cent), 94 out of 95 for Shiv Sena (UBT) (99 per cent), 80 out of 84 for NCP (SP) (95 per cent), 79 out of 81 for Shiv Sena (98 per cent) and 58 of 59 candidates of NCP (98 per cent).

At the other end of the list were independent candidates Ajay Bhojraj Mandape and Vijay Shrivas (from Badnear seat) and Altaf Syed (Parli) who declared assets of less than Rs 2000, the report added.

Of the 2210 candidates whose affidavits were analysed, 629 (29 per cent) have declared criminal cases, including 412 (19 per cent) facing serious offences.

“A total of 50 candidates have declared cases related to crime against women. Of these, two have cases related to rape. Six have cases of murder and 39 have cases of attempt to murder,” the report informed.

The Supreme Court directions on candidates with criminal backgrounds have had little effect with parties giving reasons like popularity of the person, does good social work, cases are politically motivated etc for fielding them, the ADR report claimed.

“A total of 1034 candidates have declared their educational qualifications to be between Class V and Class XII, while 1025 candidates have claimed to be graduates and above. A total of 74 candidates are diploma holders, while 58 candidates have declared themselves to be just literate. Ten candidates are illiterates,” the report said.